Arrangement for unloading material from a dredge

ABSTRACT

An arrangement for dumping dredged material on an elevated bank and a below grade bank by means of a removing device, the superstructure of which is mounted on the understructure so as to be tiltable about a vertical axis and which receives the dredged material through the intervention of a belt bridge in close vicinity of the vertical pivot axis, the superstructure comprising two dumping beams for the dumping on an elevated and a below grade bank, which dumping beams are pivotable together with the superstructure, while below the discharge end of the belt bridge there is provided an adjusting device for the two dumping beams for varying the material to be dumped thereby.

United States Patent Krumrey [4 1 Mar. 21, 1972 [72] Inventor:

[73] Assignee:

Alfred Krumrey, Rheinhausen, Germany Fried. Krupp Gesellschalt mit beschrankter I-laltung, Essen, Germany [22] Filed: Mar. 2, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 15,805

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 28, 1969 Germany ..P I9 10 242.2

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 636,557 11/1899 Reeves ..l98/8l FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 513,512 8 l l95 2 Belgium ..198/36 582,964 2/ 1930 Germany ..l98/88 1,056,058 4/1959 Germany ..l98/95 969,830 7/1958 Germany..... .37/1908 1,078,945 3/1960 Germany 198/100 Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-F rank E. Werner AttorneyWalter Becker [57] ABSTRACT An arrangement for dumping dredged material on an elevated bank and a below grade bank by means of a removing device, the superstructure of which is mounted on the understructure so as to be tiltable about a vertical axis and which receives the dredged material through the intervention of a belt bridge in close vicinity of the vertical pivot axis, the superstructure comprising two dumping beams for the dumping on an elevated and a below grade bank, which dumping beams are pivotable together with the superstructure, while below the discharge end of the belt bridge there is provided an adjusting device for the two dumping beams for varying the material to be dumped thereby.

9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures measuring PAIENEMRm I972 SHEET 1 [IF 3 PATENTEDHARZ] I972 SHEET 3 BF 3 ARRANGEMENT FOR UNLOADING MATERIAL FROM A DREDGE The present invention relates to an arrangement for unloading material from a dredge. In open pit mining and surface working, the overburden or waste dug by dredges is, in many instances, conveyed by trains or conveyor installations to a removing device which is located relatively far away from the dredges and which withdraws the overburden or waste from a ditch into which the overburden or waste is dumped from the trains or the conveyor installation.

It is, however, more economical to pour the overburden or waste from the dredge in so-called direct drop over the open pit onto a waste dump or waste heap opposite the dredge. To this end, for instance, the dredge and the removing device have been combined to form a single implement, and this implement has been moved on the mining side of the open pit.

It is also known to connect the removing device to the dredge by means of one or more belt bridges. When in this connection the removing device moves on the mining side of the open pit, the tilting height and thus the building up of the waste dump is limited by the length of the dumping overhanging beam which cannot be increased at random. In order to increase the dumping height, it is possible to dump downwardly or upwardly if the removing device moves on an intermediate surface of the dump. However, with customary removing devices, the transgression from the piling up or dumping in upward direction to the dumping in downward direction, and vice versa, will require that the superstructure carrying the dumping beam is pivotable over a large angle range of not much less than 360. This requirement, however, is not favorable to a structural realization when the bridge extends close to the vertical pivot axis of the superstructure. This is due to the fact that with a C-shaped design of the superstructure its tower has to be offset relative to the vertical pivot axis to such an extent that at the large pivot angle it will not hit the bridge. If this is to be avoided, the removing device is to be provided with a feeding beam which can be pivoted laterally independently of the dumping beam. The mined waste material or the like is to be dumped on the conveyor belt of said feeding beam from the belt of the bridge in a corresponding distance from the superstructure of the removing device. Such a construction is rather expensive.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement of the above mentioned general type which will have a greatly enlarged dumping height with divided upward and downward dumping.

It is another object of this invention to provide an arrangement, as set forth in the preceding paragraph, which can be operated in a particularly favorable economical manner.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification, in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a cross section through an open pit and shows a side view of a removing device.

FIG. 2 illustrates a side view of a removing device according to a modification of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the device of FIG. 2.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show details of FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively on a larger scale.

The present invention is based on a device for dumping dredged material in upward and downward direction with a removing device, the superstructure of which, is pivotable about a vertical axis and is journaled on a under structure and to which the dredged material is conveyed through the intervention of a belt bridge in a high close vicinity of the vertical pivot axis.

The invention is seen primarily in that the superstructure of the removing device has two dumping beams pivotable together with said superstructure and intended for upward and downward dumping while below the dumping end of the belt bridge there is provided a device intended for both dumping beams and adapted to distribute the material to be dumped.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the removing device according to both embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 respectively aremovable on a berm or terrace 1 of the dump or heap between an elevated slope or bank 2 and a below grade slope or beam 3. The upper structure 5, 6 is on the under structure 4 of the device rotatably joumaled for rotation about a vertical axis 7.

According to the embodiment of FIG. 1, the superstructure 6 is C-shaped. Suspended on a joint 9 of the upper leg of said superstructure 6 is the dumping end of a belt bridge 8. The charging end of the belt bridge 8 rests on a track laying driving mechanism 10 within the range of a nonillustrated device, for instance, a dredge or a breaking or crushing plant which charges the dredged material onto the conveyor belt of the beltbridge 8.

The joint'9 has three degrees of freedom and is so arranged that its center point is located in the vertical pivot axis 7. The receiving end of the bridge 8 rests on the track laying carriage or driving mechanism 10 through the intervention of rollers 11 in such a way that the belt bridge 8 is adapted to rotate relative to the carriage 10 about a vertical axis 12 and about a horizontal axis which is transverse to the bridge, and also is adapted to move in the longitudinal direction. The rollers 11 prevent the bridge from turning relative to the carriage 10 about its longitudinal axis. In view of this mounting of the belt bridge 8 at both ends, it is adapted without difficulties and within certain limits to adapt itself to any relative movements between the removing device and the track laying carriage 10; for instance, FIG. 1 indicates that the track laying carriage 10 is adapted to assume different positions of height.

The superstructure 5 carries two dumping beams 13 and 14 for elevated dumping and for below grade dumping. Both beams extend from the superstructure 5 in opposite directions. More specifically, the beam 13 is inclined upwardly and the beam 14 is inclined downwardly. The dumping beam 13 for elevated dumping is suspended a plurality of times on a pole 15 extending from the superstructure 5. The beam 13 is adapted by means of a lifting mechanism engaging the pole 15 to be pivoted upwardly or downwardly about its supporting bearing on the upper structure 5. The dumping beam 14 for below grade pouring is, for instance, rigidly connected to the upper structure 5.

For purposes of distributing the dredged material dumped from the bridge belt, over the two belts of the dumping beams 13 and 14, there is provided a saddle 16, the edge of which extends trausverse to the beams 13 and 14 and intersects the vertical axis 7. The saddle l6 bridges the intermediate space between the reversing drums of the belts in the beams 13 and 14, said reversing drums facing each other. Accordingly, the dredged material which comes from the belt bridge 8 is distributed over the two dumping beams so that simultaneously the elevated bank or slope 2 and the below grade bank or slope 3 can be charged. The conveyor belts of the dumping beams 13 and 14 are protected by the saddle inasmuch as the material is slidingly conveyed from the saddle to said conveyor belts. The saddle 16 is expediently displaceably guided in the longitudinal direction of the dumping beams 13 and 14.

By displacing the saddle, the ratio at which the material discharged from the bridge 8 is distributed over the dumping beams 13 and 14 is changed in conformity with the requirements of the operation. For instance, the total flow of material on the conveyor which comes from the belt bridge 8 may be conveyed to the beam 13 for elevated dumping or to the beam 14 for below grade dumping if it is not desired to distribute the material at any desired ratio over the two beams 13 and 14.

The distribution of the material being conveyed over the two beams 13 and 14 can be controlled automatically. To this end, for instance, measuring devices or gauges may be built into the beams 13 and 14, by means of which the quantity of material conveyed per time unit via the respective beam is ascertained. By these measuring gauges impulses may be conveyed to a driving means for displacing the saddle 16. The control of the distribution of the material may be so effected that a desired height of the elevated bank or slope 2 and/or of the below grade bank or slope 3 is obtained.

The embodiment according to FIGS. 2 and 3 differs from that of FIG. 1 on one hand in that the upper structure 6 is not C-shaped but forms a frame surrounding the vertical pivot axis 7. The belt bridge 8 rests upon the top side of the superstructure 6 by means of an annular body 18 which is pivotally journaled on the superstructure by ball or roller means for pivoting movement about the vertical axis 7. The belt bridge 8 is, by means of joints 19, connected to the annular body 18, said joints having an axis extending transverse to the belt bridge. The other end of the belt bridge 8 rests on the track laying carriage (not shown in FIG. 2) for instance by means of a ball joint.

The material dropped from the belt of the bridge 8 passes through the annular body 18 in the interior of the superstructure 6 upon the saddle 16 which distributes thematerial over the belts of the discharge beams 13 and 14.

The removing device according to FIGS. 2 and 3 differs from that of F 1G. 1 furthermore by the fact that the discharge beams 13 and 14 are rigidly connected to 'each other while forming a rectilinear extension of each other. If desired, the inclination of the united discharge beams l3, 14 may be varied by a lifting or hoisting device.

At any rate, the discharge beam 14 for the below grade discharge serves as object for the discharge beam 13 for the elevated dumping. 1

FIG. 3 illustrates that for a simultaneous dumping of dredged material onto the elevated bank 2 and the below grade bank 3 in block operation, the superstructure with the two dumping beams 13 and 14 does not have to be pivoted by more than 180. This has a favorable effect with a C-shaped design of the superstructure according to FIG. 1 because the turret 20 can be arranged relatively close to the vertical pivot axis 7 so that it is exposed only to minor bending stresses. It is particularly advantageous to design the superstructure 6 in conformity with FIG. 2 in view of the fact that the annular body 18 is subjected to a central load.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular construction shown in the drawing, but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An arrangement for unloading dredged material in upward and downward direction, which includes: a material removing implement having an understructure and also comprising a superstructure supported by said understructure and adapted to turn about a vertical axis, dumping means including two dumping beams respectively inclined upwardly and downwardly for upward and downward dumping of material, said dumping means being supported by said superstructure and being pivotable together therewith about said vertical axis, belt bridge means having one end portion located at a level higher than a portion of at least one of said dumping beams, and distributing means arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means for distributing the material being discharged from said belt bridge means selectively over one or both of said dumping beams, said superstructure being provided with a joint having three degrees of freedom and having said end portion of said belt bridge means suspended therein.

2. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which said superstructure is of a C-shaped design.

3. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which said dumping beam for upward dumping is adjustable as to height independently of said dumping beam for downward dumping.

4. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which said two dumping beams form counter weights for at least approximately balancing the superstructure.

5. An arrangement for unloading dredged material in upward and downward direction, which includes: a material removing implement having an understructure and also comprising a superstructure supported by said understructure and adapted to turn aboutavertical axis, dumping means including two dumping beams respectively inclined upwardly and downwardly for upward and downward dumping of material, said dumping means being supported by said superstructure which includes an. upper end surrounding said vertical axis at the top and being pivotable together therewith about said vertical axis, an annular body rotatably joumaled about said vertical axis, belt bridge means having one end portion located at a level higher than a portion of at least one of said dumping beams and said one end portion of said belt bridge means having a pivot joint support upon said annular body with the pivot joint support having an axis extending transverse to said belt bridge means, and distributing means arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means for distributing the material being discharged from said belt bridge means selectively over one or both of said dumping beams, said superstructure being provided with supporting means having two degrees of freedom and supporting said end portion of said belt bridge means, said superstructure extending around the pivot axis thereof.

6. An arrangement for unloading dredged material in upward and downward direction, which includes: a material removing implement having an understructure and also comprising a superstructure supported by said understructure and adapted to turn about a vertical axis, dumping means including two dumping beams respectively inclined upwardly and downwardly for upward and downward dumping of material, said dumping means being supported by said superstructure and being pivotable together therewith about said vertical axis, belt bridge means having one end portion located at a level higher than a portion of at least one of said dumping beams, and distributing means arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means for distributing the material being discharged from said belt bridge means selectively over one or both of said dumping beams, said dumping beams being rigidly connected to each other.

7. An arrangement according to claim 6, in which said dumping means include endless conveyor belts having those ends thereof which are adjacent to each other arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means. g

8. An arrangement according to claim 7, in which said distributing means is formed by a saddle-shaped structure having an edge extending transverse to the longitudinal direction of said dumping beams, said saddle-shaped structure bridging the space between the adjacent ends of said beams and said end portion of said belt bridge means and being displaceable in the longitudinal direction of said endless conveyor belts.

9. An arrangement for unloading dredged material in upward and downward direction, which includes: a material removing implement having an understructure and also comprising a superstructure supported by said understructure and adapted to turn about a vertical axis,dumping means including two dumping beams respectively inclined upwardly and downwardly for upward and downward dumping of material, said dumping means being supported by said superstructure and being pivotable together therewith about said vertical axis, belt bridge means having one end portion located at a level higher than a portion of at least one of said dumping beams, distributing means arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means for distributing the material being discharged from said belt bridge means selectively over one or both of said dumping beams, said dumping means including endless conveyor belts having those ends thereof which are adjacent to each other arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means, said distributing means being fonned by a saddle-shaped structure having an edge extending transverse to the longitudinal direction of said dumping beams, said saddle-shaped structure bridging the space between the adjacent ends of said beams and said end portion of said belt bridge means and being displaceable in the longitudinal direction of said endless conveyor belts, measuring devices for ascertaining the quantities of material conveyed by said endless conveyor belts, and means operatively connected to said measuring devices and said saddle-shaped structure for adjusting the latter in conformity with the indication by said measuring devices. 

1. An arrangement for unloading dredged material in upward and downward direction, which includes: a material removing implement having an understructure and also comprising a superstructure supported by said understructure and adapted to turn about a vertical axis, dumping means including two dumping beams respectively inclined upwardly and downwardly for upward and downward dumping of material, said dumping means being supported by said superstructure and being pivotable together therewith about said vertical axis, belt bridge means having one end portion located at a level higher than a portion of at least one of said dumping beams, and distributing means arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means for distributing the material being discharged from said belt bridge means selectively over one or both of said dumping beams, said superstructure being provided with a joint having three degrees of freedom and having said end portion of said belt bridge means suspended therein.
 2. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which said superstructure is of a C-shaped design.
 3. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which said dumping beam for upward dumping is adjustable as to height independently of said dumping beam for downward dumping.
 4. An arrangement according to claim 1, in which said two dumping beams form counter weights for at least approximately balancing the superstructure.
 5. An arrangement for unloading dredged material in upward and downward direction, which includes: a material removing implement having an understructure and also comprising a superstructure supported by said understructure and adapted to turn about a vertical axis, dumping means including two dumping beams respectively inclined upwardly and downwardly for upward and downward dumping of material, said dumping means being supported by said superstructure which includes an upper end surrounding said vertical axis at the top and being pivotable together therewith about said vertical axis, an annular body rotatably journaled about said vertical axis, belt bridge means having one end portion located at a level higher than a portion of at least one of said dumping beams and said one end portion of said belt bridge means having a pivot joint support upon said annular body with the pivot joint support having an axis extending transverse to said belt bridge means, and distributing means arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means for distributing the material being discharged from said belt bridge means selectively over one or both of said dumping beams, said superstructure being provided with supporting means having two degrees of freedom and supporting said end portion of said belt bridge means, said superstructure extending around the pivot axis thereof.
 6. An arrangement for unloading dredged material in upward and downward direction, which includes: a material removing implement having an understructure and also comprising a superstructure supported by said understructure and adapted to turn about a vertical axis, dumping means including two dumping beams respectively inclined upwardly and downwardly for upward and downward dumping of material, said dumping means being supported by said superstructure and being pivotable together therewith about said vertical axis, belt bridge means having one end portion located at a level higher than a portion of at least one of said dumping beams, and distributing means arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means for distributing the material being discharged from said belt bridge means selectively over one or both of said dumping beams, said dumping beams being rigidly connected to each other.
 7. An arrangement according to claim 6, in which said dumping means include endless conveyor belts having those ends thereof which are adjacent to each other arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means.
 8. An arrangemenT according to claim 7, in which said distributing means is formed by a saddle-shaped structure having an edge extending transverse to the longitudinal direction of said dumping beams, said saddle-shaped structure bridging the space between the adjacent ends of said beams and said end portion of said belt bridge means and being displaceable in the longitudinal direction of said endless conveyor belts.
 9. An arrangement for unloading dredged material in upward and downward direction, which includes: a material removing implement having an understructure and also comprising a superstructure supported by said understructure and adapted to turn about a vertical axis, dumping means including two dumping beams respectively inclined upwardly and downwardly for upward and downward dumping of material, said dumping means being supported by said superstructure and being pivotable together therewith about said vertical axis, belt bridge means having one end portion located at a level higher than a portion of at least one of said dumping beams, distributing means arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means for distributing the material being discharged from said belt bridge means selectively over one or both of said dumping beams, said dumping means including endless conveyor belts having those ends thereof which are adjacent to each other arranged below said end portion of said belt bridge means, said distributing means being formed by a saddle-shaped structure having an edge extending transverse to the longitudinal direction of said dumping beams, said saddle-shaped structure bridging the space between the adjacent ends of said beams and said end portion of said belt bridge means and being displaceable in the longitudinal direction of said endless conveyor belts, measuring devices for ascertaining the quantities of material conveyed by said endless conveyor belts, and means operatively connected to said measuring devices and said saddle-shaped structure for adjusting the latter in conformity with the indication by said measuring devices. 